[KINGS PARK, NEW YORK] [MAY 10, 2022] – FIRST^® LEGO^® League announced the 20 finalist teams advancing to the 2022 FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award presented by Qualcomm Incorporated. Team #39029 “TriTech” from Dix Hills was selected from tens of thousands of teams in more than 110 countries for their outstanding Innovation Project. Their solution has demonstrated strong design and innovation and the potential to add significant value in the world. TriTech has invented the SCOUTbot for the CARGO CONNECT℠ season. Teams were challenged to design a creative new piece of technology or improve an existing one to help cargo along its journey. The team will join other finalists in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. at the historic Union Station to showcase their invention, participate in workshops, be judged by innovation, patent, and industry experts, and be exposed to career pathways in innovation on June 21-23, 2022.

On June 23 at 5:30 p.m. CT on the FIRSTtv Twitch channel, the Global Innovation Award will culminate with a live awards show, hosted by youth and featuring a live innovation activity. One winning team will be chosen. Additional awards will be given to two runners up, winners for impact, design, create, and implementation, and the publicly voted Community Choice.

Teams participating in the FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award must consider possible barriers to implementation, document the evaluation of their invention, and validate their design with professionals working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).

Innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs play a critical role in growing our economy and improving our quality of life. FIRST^® and Qualcomm believe a more connected and inclusive world relies on providing today’s youth with equitable access and opportunity to explore the innovation process and channel their unique perspectives to create unique solutions for a better future. Students emerge as strong visionaries capable of applying innovative thinking to any problem. From improvements to the water cycle, to innovative solutions to waste management, past FIRST LEGO League Innovation Project finalists have brought their inventions to market, received patents, and incorporated as businesses.

FIRST LEGO League is an international program for 9 to 16-year-old children (ages vary by country) created in a partnership between FIRST^® and the LEGO^® Group in 1998 to get children excited about science and technology – and teach them valuable career and life skills. Children work alongside adult coaches to design, build, and program autonomous LEGO^® robots, and create an innovative solution to a real-world problem as part of their research project.

The 2022 FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award presented by Qualcomm are sponsored by Collins Aerospace, FedEx, John Deere, and LEGO^® Education and in collaboration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

 

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About FIRST^® 
FIRST^® is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages 4-18 (PreK-12) that can be facilitated in school or in structured after-school programs. Boosted by a global support system of volunteers, educators, and sponsors that include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies, teams operate under a signature set of FIRST Core Values to conduct research, fundraise, design, build, and showcase their achievements during annual challenges. An international not-for-profit organization founded by accomplished inventor Dean Kamen in 1989, FIRST has a proven impact on STEM learning, interest, and skill-building well beyond high school. Alumni of FIRST programs gain access to exclusive scholarships, internships, and other opportunities that create connections and open pathways to a wide variety of careers. Learn more at firstinspires.org.

[KINGS PARK, NEW YORK] [APRIL 28, 2022] –Contestants ages 9 to 14 took part in the annual FIRST^® LEGO^® League Challenge Long Island Tournament, which was sponsored by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) and held remotely on March 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Team #23785 “Meteorites Squared” from Hicksville won the Champion’s Award. The top teams won by embodying the program’s Core Values of teamwork and mutual respect while achieving excellence and innovation in both a robot game and innovative project.

FIRST LEGO League Challenge is an international program for 9- to 16-year-old children (ages vary by country) created in a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group in 1998 to get children excited about science and technology — and teach them valuable career and life skills. Children work alongside adult Mentors to design, build, and program autonomous robots using LEGO^® Education SPIKE^TM Prime or LEGO^® MINDSTORMS^® and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their Innovation Project.

This year’s Challenge — CARGO CONNECT^SM — called for teams to reimagine our global transportation system and explore ways of improving how we access and deliver needed and desired goods, making all communities more connected.

Twenty-one teams took part in the Tournament. The competition is judged in three areas: Innovation Project; Robot Design, and Core Values, which embody aspects of teamwork and good sportsmanship. Top robot game scores are also honored. The award winners were as follows:

Team Award	Team #	Team Name	Town
Global Innovation Award Nomination	22112	Portledge Royal Panthers	Locust Valley
Global Innovation Award Nomination	6435	Fire Dragons	Rocky Point
Innovation Project 1st Place Winner	39029	TriTech **	Dix Hills
Innovation Project 2nd Finalist	2180	LJHS LE’GO Lions (Holborow)	Middle Island
Innovation Project 3rd Finalist	51732	Dragon Racers	Huntington
Innovation Project 4th Finalist	30052	Team 4×4	Glen Head
Robot Design 1st Place Winner	22112	Portledge Royal Panthers	Locust Valley
Robot Design 2nd Finalist	15794	Buckley Cyber Dogs	Roslyn
Robot Design 3rd Finalist	1087	Brainstormers	Bayport
Robot Design 4th Finalist	46635	Brickaneers Gold	Islip
Robot Performance 1st Place Winner	50946	Overpowered Spicy Robot	Syosset
Robot Performance 2nd Place	54838	Overpowered Chicken Nugget	Syosset
Robot Performance 3rd Place	1087	Brainstormers	Bayport
Robot Performance 4th Place	46635	Brickaneers Gold	Islip
Core Values 1st Place Winner	16174	Meteorites	Hicksville
Core Values 2nd Finalist	47463	Raptor Dactyls	East Islip
Core Values 3rd Finalist	54370	BRICKii	Stony Brook
Core Values 4th Finalist	50815	Brickaneers Duplo	Islip
Rising All-Star 1st Place Winner	53114	Robat	Jericho
Rising All-Star 2nd Finalist	43820	Robotic Lightning Kangaroos	Huntington
Rising All-Star 3rd Finalist	49289	Electric Eagles	Jericho
Engineering Excellence 1st Place Winner	37506	Microchip Cookies	Plainview
Engineering Excellence 2nd Finalist	2438	Camol Clan	Floral Park
Engineering Excellence 3rd Finalist	8085	Rocky Point Radical Robotix	Rocky Point
Champion’s Award 1st Place Winner *	23785	Meteorites Squared	Hicksville
Champion’s Award 2nd Finalist	6435	Fire Dragons ***	Rocky Point
Champion’s Award 3rd Finalist	53744	Imagination in a Nutshell	Jericho
Champion’s Award 4th Finalist	50946	Overpowered Spicy Robot	Syosset

* The Champions Award winner was invited to participate in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge World Festival at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas on April 20-23, 2022.

** This team has been invited to participate in the American Invitational Robotics Competition at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey on May 14.

*** This team has been invited to participate in the FIRST LEGO League Razorback Open Invitational at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Arkansas on May 19-22, 2022.

 

The Coach/Mentor Award went to four coaches. The 1^st Place Winner was Catherine Temps of Team #16174 “Meteorites” from Hicksville. Dave Savage from Team #48026 “Savage Bricks” from East Setauket was the 2^nd Finalist, and Shannen Delaney of Team #43820 “Robotic Lightning Kangaroos” from Huntington was the 3^rd Finalist. The 4^th Finalist was Paola Ragusa of Team #2438 “Camol Clan” from Floral Park.

For more information on SBPLI, visit https://www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

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About FIRST^® 
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $50 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades PreK-8. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.firstinspires.org

 

About FIRST^® LEGO League

FIRST LEGO League introduces science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16 (ages vary by country) through fun, exciting hands-on learning. FIRST LEGO League participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. In FIRST LEGO League, students engage in hands-on STEM experiences, building confidence, growing their knowledge and developing habits of learning. FIRST LEGO League’s three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.

 

FIRST LEGO League Discover – PreK- Grade 1:

For children ages 4-6, this playful introductory STEM program ignites their natural curiosity and builds their habits of learning with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO^® Duplo bricks.

 

FIRST LEGO League Explore – Grades 2-4:

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0.

 

FIRST LEGO League Challenge – Grades 4-8:

Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-16* engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.

 

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

 

[KINGS PARK, NEW YORK] [APRIL 8, 2022] — Contestants ages 6 to 10 took part in the annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League (FLL) Explore Festival, which was held remotely on March 13th due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme was CARGO CONNECT, in which teams researched how cargo is transported to and from their community and around the world. The teams embodied the program’s Core Values of teamwork and showed great innovation in their LEGO models and Show Me Posters that they shared with Reviewers remotely.

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 and LEGO Spike Essential.

Each team was recognized in a different category and received a medal. The awards and recipients are listed below:

Award	Winners
Challenge Solution Award	Team #2619 “LEGO Engineers,” Mineola Team #3697 “Team Epic,” Locust Valley Team #6183, “Cargo Coders,” Mineola Team #22977, “Blue Bird,” Flushing
Core Values Award	Team #22, “Kung Fu Team,” Syosset Team #103, “Bright Robotic Narwhals,” Locust Valley Team #6174, “The LEGO Transporters,” Mineola Team #6175, “LEGO Monstars,” Mineola
Coding Award	Team #20544, “Light Speed LEGOS,” Baldwin Team #20045, “Team Champion,” Flushing Team #24307, “LEGO Girls,” East Islip
Team Model Award	Team #104, “The Convertibles,” Locust Valley Team #2726, “Terrific Transportation.” Mineola Team #2728, “LEGO Learners,” Mineola Team #9258, “The Experts,” Roslyn Team #12829, “LEGO Champions,” Port Jefferson Station Team #24383, “Brick Designers,” Roslyn
Team Poster Award	Team #2730, “Builders Connect,” Mineola Team #6176, “Team Universal,” Mineola Team #13877, “LEGO Giants,” Woodbury Team #24170, “Six Million IQ,” Syosset

 

 * Award descriptions are available upon request.

 

In addition, two teams will represent Long Island at the FIRST World Festival, which will take place at the George R, Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas on April 20-23: Team #22 “Kung Fu Team” from Syosset and Team #25839 “Robotessori Team” from Baldwin.

 

For more information, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

 

###

 

About FIRST^® 
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $50 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades PreK-8. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.firstinspires.org

 

 

About FIRST^® LEGO League

FIRST LEGO League introduces science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16 (ages vary by country) through fun, exciting hands-on learning. FIRST LEGO League participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. In FIRST LEGO League, students engage in hands-on STEM experiences, building confidence, growing their knowledge and developing habits of learning. FIRST LEGO League’s three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.

 

FIRST LEGO League Discover – PreK- Grade 1:

For children ages 4-6, this playful introductory STEM program ignites their natural curiosity and builds their habits of learning with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO^® Duplo bricks.

 

FIRST LEGO League Explore – Grades 2-4:

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0.

 

FIRST LEGO League Challenge – Grades 4-8:

Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-16* engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve relevant real-world problems.

 

 

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.
School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

 

 

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI), Inc. DBA FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island presented its 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 on March 24-26 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead. Forty-five teams from Long Island, New York City, upstate New York, the Dominican Republic, India, Turkey and Puerto Rico took part in the three-day FIRST Robotics Competition. This event culminated with awards and honors for areas such as design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high-impact partnerships among schools, businesses and communities.

The winner of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 was the three-team alliance made up of “Team R.I.C.E” (Team #870) from Southold High School, “StuyPulse” (Team #694) from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and Team #2869 “Regal Eagles” from Bethpage High School. “Hicksville J-Birds” (Team #1468) from Hicksville High School took home the coveted Chairman’s Award, which is the event’s most prestigious award. It recognizes the team that best embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and that best represents a model for other teams to emulate. “Real Eagles” (Team #2869) from Bethpage High School won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award. The Wildcard went to “Redhawk Robotics” (Team #8739) from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture from Ozone Park. These teams are now eligible to compete at the 2022 FIRST Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from April 20-23.

Peter Beninati, Team Mentor, Team #1796 “RoboTigers” from Queens Technical High School, was named a Finalist for the Woodie Flowers Award. Winners of the Dean’s List Finalist Award were Christopher Palazzo from Team #871 “Robotechs” from West Islip Senior High School and John Galletta from Team #810 “The Mechanical Bulls” from Smithtown High School-East & Smithtown High School-West.

“This was one of the best SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competitions we’ve experienced,” says Bertram Dittmar, Executive Director, SBPLI. “All participating teams demonstrated tremendous teamwork, gracious professionalism^™ and critical thinking. The fun and excitement of the competition was evident as many students and mentors got caught up in the spirit of the event. Participants, volunteers, and sponsors had the opportunity to experience the beauty of engineering and technology combined with the excitement of a competitive event.”

As a FIRST^® Robotics Competition, the SBPLI Long Island Regional featured teams of high school-aged students from across Long Island, the New York metropolitan area and even around the world competing in a cooperative tournament-style robotics competition. Guided by their mentors, students rely on their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to compete for honors and recognition that reward design excellence, competitive play and sportsmanship. This high-energy event further emphasizes the importance of high-impact partnerships between students, universities, businesses, and communities.

This year’s competition was dubbed RAPID REACT^SM presented by The Boeing Company. In RAPID REACT, two competing alliances are invited to process cargo for transportation. Each alliance is assigned a cargo color to process by retrieving their assigned cargo and scoring it into the hub. Human players assist the cargo retrieval and scoring efforts from within their terminals. In the final moments of each match, alliance robots race to engage with their hangar to prepare for transport.

The Full List of Winners of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 Awards Include:

AWARD	TEAM #	TEAM NAME	SCHOOL/TOWN
Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen	5298	E-TECH CHARGERS	Energy Tech High School/ Astoria
Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award	694	StuyPulse	Stuyvesant High School/ New York
Rockwell Automation Creativity Award	564	Longwood Robotics	Longwood High School/ Middle Island
Delphi Excellence in Engineering Award	810	The Mechanical Bulls	Smithtown High School-East & Smithtown High School-West/Smithtown
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award	2601	Steel Hawks	Townsend Harris High School/Flushing
General Motors Industrial Design Award	287	Floyd Robotics	William Floyd High School/Mastic Beach
Ford Autonomous Award	870	TEAM R.I.C.E.	Southold Jr. Sr. High School/Southold
Motorola Solutions Foundation Quality Award	2791	Shaker Robotics	Shaker High School/Latham, NY
Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism	1554	Oceanside Robotics	School 7 Oceanside High School/Oceanside
FCA Foundation Team Spirit Award	7717	Steam Punks	St. Michael’s School/Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Judges’ Award	6806	Mineola Wild Reds	Mineola High School/Mineola
Regional Finalist #1	1468	Hicksville J-Birds	Hicksville High School/Hicksville
Regional Finalist #2	1796	RoboTigers	Queens Technical High School/Queens
Regional Finalist #3	271	Mechanical Marauders	Bay Shore High School/ Bay Shore
Regional Winner #1**	694	StuyPulse	Stuyvesant High School/ New York
Regional Winner #2**	870	TEAM R.I.C.E.	Southold Jr. Sr. High School/Southold
Regional Winner #3**	2869	Regal Eagles	Bethpage High School/Bethpage
Regional Engineering Inspiration Award**	2869	Regal Eagles	Bethpage High School/Bethpage
Regional Chairman’s Award* **	1468	Hicksville J-Birds	Hicksville High School/Hicksville
Wildcard ** ***	8739	Redhawk Robotics	High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture/Ozone Park
Highest Rookie Seed ***	8739	Redhawk Robotics	High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture/Ozone Park
Rookie All Star Award ***	8739	Redhawk Robotics	High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture/Ozone Park

 

* The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award of the event and recognizes the team that embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and best represents a model for other teams to emulate.

** These teams are eligible to participate in the 2019 FIRST^® Championship presented by Qualcomm® Incorporated at either the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas on April 20-23.

*** Denotes a rookie team.

 

Please Note: Photos of all Award Winners and Advancing Teams are available upon request.

 

For more information on FIRST Long Island, please visit www.firstlongisland.org.

 

###

About FIRST^®  
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $30 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades 4-8; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League Jr. for Grades K-4. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST^®, go to www.firstinspires.org.

 

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.
School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.firstlongisland.org.

 

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI), Inc. DBA FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island presented its 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #1 on March 21-23 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead. Thirty-nine teams from Long Island, upstate New York, Brazil and India took part in the three-day FIRST Robotics Competition. This event culminated with awards and honors for areas such as design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high-impact partnerships among schools, businesses and communities.

 

The winner of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #1 was the three-team alliance made up of “Team R.I.C.E” (Team #870) from Southold High School, “HURRICANES” (Team #3171) from Westhampton Beach High School and “CyberCats” (Team #2872) from The Wheatley School in Old Westbury. “Rebel Robotics” (Team #2638) from Great Neck South High School took home the coveted Chairman’s Award, which is the event’s most prestigious award. It recognizes the team that best embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and that best represents a model for other teams to emulate. “R Factor” (Team #6024) from Mumbai, India won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award. These teams are now eligible to compete at the 2022 FIRST Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from April 20-23.

 

Samuel Kruse, Team Mentor, Team #5736 “Kingsmen Robotics” from Kings Park High School, was named a Finalist for the Woodie Flowers Award. Winners of the Dean’s List Finalist Award were Stuti Bhatia of Team #6024 “R Factor” from Mumbai, India and Ashley Snyder of Team #527 “Red Dragons” from Plainedge High School in Massapequa.

 

“This was one of the best SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competitions we’ve experienced,” says Bertram Dittmar, Executive Director, SBPLI. “All participating teams demonstrated tremendous teamwork, gracious professionalism^™ and critical thinking. The fun and excitement of the competition was evident as many students and mentors got caught up in the spirit of the event. Participants, volunteers, and sponsors had the opportunity to experience the beauty of engineering and technology combined with the excitement of a competitive event.”

 

As a FIRST^® Robotics Competition, the SBPLI Long Island Regional featured teams of high school-aged students from across Long Island, the New York metropolitan area and even around the world competing in a cooperative tournament-style robotics competition. Guided by their mentors, students rely on their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to compete for honors and recognition that reward design excellence, competitive play and sportsmanship. This high-energy event further emphasizes the importance of high-impact partnerships between students, universities, businesses, and communities.

 

This year’s competition was dubbed RAPID REACT^SM presented by The Boeing Company. In RAPID REACT, two competing alliances are invited to process cargo for transportation. Each alliance is assigned a cargo color to process by retrieving their assigned cargo and scoring it into the hub. Human players assist the cargo retrieval and scoring efforts from within their terminals. In the final moments of each match, alliance robots race to engage with their hangar to prepare for transport. 

 

The Full List of Winners of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #1 Awards Include:

 

AWARD	TEAM #	TEAM NAME	SCHOOL/TOWN
Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen	5016	Huntington Robotics	Huntington High School/Huntington
Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award	2872	CyberCats	The Wheatley School/Old Westbury
Xerox Creativity Award	3171	HURRICANES	Westhampton Beach High School/Westhampton Beach
Delphi Excellence in Engineering Award	1468	Hicksville J-Birds	Hicksville High School/Hicksville
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award	7567	SESI SENAI SÃO PAULO OCTOPUS	Centro Educacional SESI 296/Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil
General Motors Industrial Design Award	358	Robotic Eagles	Hauppauge High School/ Hauppauge
Ford Autonomous Award	870	TEAM R.I.C.E.	Southold Jr. Sr. High School/ Southold
Motorola Solutions Foundation Quality Award	2487	Mechanical Animals	Sayville High School/Sayville
Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism	2027	Robotic Dragons	Westbury High School/Westbury
FCA Foundation Team Spirit Award	6423	Ward Melville Iron Patriots	Ward Melville Sr. High School/East Setauket
Judges’ Award	2869	Regal Eagles	Bethpage High School/Bethpage
Regional Finalist #1	2638	Rebel Robotics	Great Neck South High School/Great Neck
Regional Finalist #2	1468	Hicksville J-Birds	Hicksville High School/Hicksville
Regional Finalist #3	6911	SO BOTZ	Tappan Zee High School/ Orangeburg, NY
Regional Finalist #4	8267	Riptide Robotics	Long Beach High School/ Long Beach
Regional Winner #1**	870	TEAM R.I.C.E.	Southold Jr. Sr. High School/ Southold
Regional Winner #2**	3171	HURRICANES	Westhampton Beach High School/Westhampton Beach
Regional Winner #3**	2872	CyberCats	The Wheatley School/ Old Westbury
Regional Engineering Inspiration Award**	6024	R Factor	Neighborhood Group/Mumbai, India
Regional Chairman’s Award* **	2638	Rebel Robotics	Great Neck South High School/Great Neck

 

* The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award of the event and recognizes the team that embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and best represents a model for other teams to emulate.

** These teams are eligible to participate in the 2019 FIRST^® Championship presented by Qualcomm® Incorporated at either the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas on April 17-20 or the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan on April 24-27.

*** Denotes a rookie team.

 

Please Note: Photos of all Award Winners and Advancing Teams are available upon request.

 

For more information on FIRST Long Island, please visit www.firstlongisland.org.

 

###

 

About FIRST^®  
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $30 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades 4-8; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League Jr. for Grades K-4. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST^®, go to www.firstinspires.org.

 

 

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.
School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.firstlongisland.org.

SCHENCK USA Hosts Distribution of Kits of Parts to Teams Due to SBPLI’s COVID Safety Protocols

 

KINGS PARK, NEW YORK — On January 8, U.S. FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) unveiled this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) challenge, “RAPID REACT^SM” presented by The Boeing Company.

RAPID REACT is part of the 2021-2022 FIRST season, FIRST FORWARD^SMpresented by Qualcomm, in which FIRST teams will explore the future of transportation. From the shipment of packages in rural and urban areas, to disaster relief delivery and high-tech air transit, teams will re-imagine faster, more reliable, inclusive and sustainable transportation innovations that better connect and grow communities and economies around the world.

In RAPID REACT presented by The Boeing Company, two competing alliances are invited to process cargo for transportation. Each alliance is assigned a cargo color to process by retrieving their assigned cargo and scoring it into the hub. Human players assist the cargo retrieval and scoring efforts from within their terminals. In the final moments of each match, alliance robots race to engage with their hangar to prepare for transport.

However, due to COVID concerns, participation by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI), also known as FIRST Long Island, was atypical. Unlike previous years in which the organization hosted a local event with breakfast, local presentations and the FIRST broadcast, SBPLI limited its participation to handing out the kits of parts to Long Island teams outdoors. Team leaders traveled to SCHENCK USA CORP. in Deer Park, where SBPLI volunteers distributed a build kit to each team. Each build kit contained motors, batteries, control system components, construction materials and a mix of additional automation components, along with limited instructions.

“Leading up to the main competition, FIRST Long Island students will work with coaches and mentors to apply concepts of math, science and engineering to build their robots to meet the game’s objectives,” said Lawrence Toonkel, FRC Director, SBPLI. “The FIRST Robotics Competition is not just about the design and build of sophisticated robots; our students will also learn important concepts such as teamwork, problem solving and healthy competition. Over the years, FIRST students from Long Island received more than $8 million in scholarships for higher education, in areas of science, technology, engineering, business or math in college. These students also develop maturity, professionalism and teamwork skills that enrich their lives. Our graduates often pursue careers with sponsoring companies, meeting the businesses’ needs for well-rounded, technically skilled employees.”

FIRST isn’t limited to Long Island; nearly 3,900 teams from all over the world came together as a community to share in the excitement of seeing the new game unveiled and will draw on this enthusiasm during the build period. During this time, all FIRST students will be asked to design, build, test and update their robots before the start of the 2022 competition, which includes more than 170 Regional and District events beginning in late February. These events measure the effectiveness of each robot’s design and control, the power of teamwork and the determination of participating students not only to win, but to learn and have fun.

To learn more about RAPID REACT, visit https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/game-and-season. For more information on SBPLI, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

 

###

About FIRST^®  
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $30 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades 4-8; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League Jr. for Grades K-4. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST^®, go to www.firstinspires.org.

 

 

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.
School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,500 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

[KINGS PARK, NEW YORK] [MAY 12, 2021] — Contestants ages 6 to 10 took part in the annual FIRST LEGO League Explore Festival , which was held remotely on April 10th and 11th due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme was PLAYMAKERS, and teams explored ways to have people become more active. The teams embodied the program’s Core Values of teamwork and showed great innovation in their LEGO models and Show Me Posters that they shared with Reviewers remotely.

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0.

Each team was recognized in a different category and received a medal. The awards and recipients are listed below:

Award	Winners
Challenge Solution Award	Team #103 “Bright Robotic Unicorns,” Locust Valley Team #6183 “Team Playmakers,” Mineola
Core Values Award	Team #104 “The Convertibles,” Locust Valley Team #2726 “Everywhere We Go, It’s Time For Fun!,” Mineola Team #2728 “Mini Builders,” Mineola Team #6175 “Lego Elements,” Mineola Team #24190 “Team Miracle,” Williston Park
Coding Award	Team #2619 “Building Beavers,” Mineola Team #23781 “The Gaming Masters,” Jericho Team #23862 “Vik’s Game Roboter,” Short Hills, NJ Team #24171 “Kungfu Team,” Syosset Team #24180 “Livingston FLL Explorers,” Livingston, NJ Team #24196 “5 Brickeneers,” South Setauket
Team Model Award	Team #2730 “Nifty Neurons,” Mineola Team #3697 “Team Epic,” Locust Valley Team #6174 “Building Tater-Tots,” Mineola Team #11164 “Lego Pros,” Locust Valley Team #23601 “Boss Baby,” Syosset
Team Poster Award	Team #18478 “Lego Angels,” Ridge Team #23522 “Gu Spirit,” Port Washington Team #24170 “Six Million IQ,” Syosset

 

 * Award descriptions are available upon request.

For more information, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

###

About FIRST^® 
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $50 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades PreK-8. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.firstinspires.org

 About FIRST^® LEGO League

FIRST LEGO League introduces science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16 (ages vary by country) through fun, exciting hands-on learning. FIRST LEGO League participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. In FIRST LEGO League, students engage in hands-on STEM experiences, building confidence, growing their knowledge and developing habits of learning. FIRST LEGO League’s three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.

 FIRST LEGO League Discover – PreK- Grade 1:

For children ages 4-6, this playful introductory STEM program ignites their natural curiosity and builds their habits of learning with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO^® Duplo bricks.

FIRST LEGO League Explore – Grades 2-4:

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0.

 FIRST LEGO League Challenge – Grades 4-8:

Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-16* engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve relevant real-world problems.

 About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.
School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

 

[KINGS PARK, NEW YORK] (May 5, 2021)- Contestants ages 12 to 18 took part in the annual FIRST^® Tech Challenge Long Island Championship, which was held remotely on April 19-24 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The top-ranked teams in order were Team #10738 “SBS Bears” from Stony Brook, Team #4017 “RoboPandas” from Floral Park, Team #13847 “At Least It Didn’t Explode” from Greenlawn, and Team #12382 “Syosset Nebula” from Syosset. The top teams won by embodying the program’s core values of teamwork and mutual respect while achieving excellence and innovation in both a robot game and innovative project.

FIRST^® Tech Challenge is a widely accessible international robotics program for students ages 12-18 created to get young people excited about science and technology-and teach them valuable lessons and life skills. Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills and practice engineering principles, while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and working as a team.

This year’s challenge was Ultimate Goals. The object of the game was to deliver as many wobble goals as possible to a randomly selected target zone, place in or launch rings into the tower goal, and launch rings to knock over power shot targets.

Twenty teams took part in the Championship. The competition was judged in three areas: innovation, robot design and Core Values, which embody aspects of teamwork and good sportsmanship. Top robot game scores were also honored. The award winners were as follows:

Award	Winners
Promote Award 1st Place: Promote Award 2nd Place: Promote Award 3rd Place:	Team #10419 “Syosset ELITE,” Syosset Team #10169 “The Flying Bricks,” Mineola Team #4017 “RoboPandas,” Floral Park
Design Award 1st Place: Design Award 2nd Place: Design Award 3rd Place:	Team #14461 “RoboHawks,” Jericho Team #8013 “Team Kuiper,” Locust Valley Team #13847 “At Least It Didn’t Explode,” Greenlawn
Motivate Award 1st Place: Motivate Award 2nd Place: Motivate Award 3rd Place:	Team #10419 “Syosset ELITE,” Syosset Team #8110 “WiSE,” Dix Hills Team #4137 “IslandBots,” East Setauket
Control Award 1st Place: Control Award 2nd Place: Control Award 3rd Place:	Team #4017 “RoboPandas,” Floral Park Team #12382 “Syosset Nebula,” Syosset Team #10738 “SBS Bears,” Stony Brook
Collins Aerospace Innovate Award 1st Place: Collins Aerospace Innovate Award 2nd Place: Collins Aerospace Innovate Award 3rd Place:	Team #13847 “At Least It Didn’t Explode,” Greenlawn Team #8108 “Theoretically Impossible,” Dix Hills Team #10738 “SBS Bears,” Stony Brook
Connect Award 1st Place: Connect Award 2nd Place: Connect Award 3rd Place:	Team #16145 “Sea Lion Techs,” Seaford Team #7407 “Team VEGA,” Huntington Team #4017 “RoboPandas,” Floral Park
Think Award 1st Place: Think Award 2nd Place: Think Award 3rd Place:	Team #8109 “RISE Robotics,” Huntington Station Team #13847 “At Least It Didn’t Explode,” Greenlawn Team #10419 “Syosset ELITE,” Syosset
Top Ranked 1st Place: Top Ranked 2nd Place: Top Ranked 3rd Place: Top Ranked 4th Place:	Team #10738 “SBS Bears,” Stony Brook Team #4017 “RoboPandas,” Floral Park Team #13847 “At Least It Didn’t Explode,” Greenlawn Team #12382 “Syosset Nebula,” Syosset
* Inspire Award 1st Place: * Inspire Award 2nd Place: * Inspire Award 3rd Place:	Team #10738 “SBS Bears,” Stony Brook Team #4017 “RoboPandas,” Floral Park Team #10419 “Syosset ELITE,” Syosset

* The Inspire Award is the highest award that FIRST recognizes in the FIRST Tech Challenge.

The top three Compass Award winners were John Chae of Team #10419 “Syosset ELITE” from Syosset, Jack Chen of Team #4017 “RoboPandas” from Floral Park, and Andrew Woolsey of Team #10169 “The Flying Bricks” from Mineola.

The Dean’s List Finalists were also named: Alicia Amian of Team #7164 “FalconBots” from Locust Valley, Marlene McKinne of Team #8110 “WiSE” from Dix Hills, and Rohan Ghotra of Team #10169 “The Flying Bricks” from Mineola.

For more information, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

###

** Award descriptions available upon request.

About FIRST^® 
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $50 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades PreK-8. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.firstinspires.org

 

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.
School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

 

[KINGS PARK, NEW YORK] [APRIL 30, 2021] –Contestants ages 9 to 14 took part in the annual FIRST^® LEGO^® League Challenge Long Island Championship, which was sponsored by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) and held remotely on April 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Team #45172 “Meteorites Cubed” from Hicksville won the Champion’s Award. The top teams won by embodying the program’s Core Values of teamwork and mutual respect while achieving excellence and innovation in both a robot game and innovative project.

FIRST LEGO League Challenge is an international program for 9- to 16-year-old children (ages vary by country) created in a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group in 1998 to get children excited about science and technology — and teach them valuable career and life skills. Children work alongside adult Mentors to design, build, and program autonomous robots using LEGO^® Education SPIKE^TM Prime or LEGO^® MINDSTORMS^® and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their Innovation Project.

This year’s Challenge — RePLAY^SM — called for teams to identify a problem related to people not being active enough, research the problem and design a new piece of technology or improve an existing one to help them solve that problem.

Twenty-one teams took part in the Championship. The competition is judged in three areas: Innovation Project; Robot Design, and Core Values, which embody aspects of teamwork and good sportsmanship. Top robot game scores are also honored. The award winners were as follows:

Team Award	Team #	Team Name	Town
Global Innovation Award	38503	Techno Queens	Jericho
Innovation Project Winner	51252	Smarties	Hicksville
Innovation Project Finalist	22112	Portledge Royal Panthers	Locust Valley
Robot Design Winner	6435	Fire Dragons	Rocky Point
Robot Design Finalist	50946	Overpowered Spicy Robot	Syosset
Robot Performance 1st Place	16174	Meteorites	Hicksville
Robot Performance 2nd Place	45172	Meteorites Cubed	Hicksville
Core Values Winner	16174	Meteorites	Hicksville
Core Values Finalist	38503	Techno Queens	Jericho
Engineering Excellence	38653	Imagination in a Nutshell II	Jericho
Champion’s*	45172	Meteorites Cubed	Hicksville

* The Champions Award winner is invited to participate in the FIRST LEGO League Virtual Open International in Greece on June 24-27, 2021.

This year’s Volunteer of the Year Award went to Rick Ramhap. The Coach/Mentor Award went to two coaches: Bryan Eichenauer of Team #45172 “Meteorites Cubed” from Hicksville and Maria Zografos of Team #22112 “The Royal Panthers” from Locust Valley.

For more information on SBPLI, visit https://www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

###

About FIRST^® 
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $50 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades PreK-8. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.firstinspires.org

 

About FIRST^® LEGO League

FIRST LEGO League introduces science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16 (ages vary by country) through fun, exciting hands-on learning. FIRST LEGO League participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. In FIRST LEGO League, students engage in hands-on STEM experiences, building confidence, growing their knowledge and developing habits of learning. FIRST LEGO League’s three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.

 

FIRST LEGO League Discover – PreK- Grade 1:

For children ages 4-6, this playful introductory STEM program ignites their natural curiosity and builds their habits of learning with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO^® Duplo bricks.

 

FIRST LEGO League Explore – Grades 2-4:

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0.

 

FIRST LEGO League Challenge – Grades 4-8:

Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-16* engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.

 

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

 

[KINGS PARK, NEW YORK] [APRIL 14, 2021] –Contestants ages 9 to 14 took part in the annual FIRST^® LEGO^® League Challenge Long Island Qualifiers, which were held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Team #16174 “Meteorites” from Hicksville won the first-place Champion’s Award at Qualifier #1. The Qualifier #3 Champion’s Award winner was Team #38503 “Techno Queens” from Jericho. The top teams won by embodying the program’s Core Values of teamwork and mutual respect while achieving excellence and innovation in both a robot game and innovative project.

Twenty-one FIRST LEGO League teams will advance to the remote championship on April 17. Out of 21 teams, eleven from Qualifier #1 will advance. They are Team #2180 “LHS LE’GO Lions” from Middle Island; Team #2438 “Camol Clan” from Floral Park; Team #6435 “Fire Dragons” from Rocky Point; Team #16174 “Meteorites” from Hicksville; Team #23785 “Meteorites Squared” from Hicksville; Team #37506 “MicroChip Cookies” from Plainview; Team #45172 “Meteorites Cubed” from Hicksville; Team #48239 “Wild Shattered Lightning Bots” from Huntington; Team #49922 “The Barracudas” from Ridge; Team #51252 “The Smarties” from Hicksville; and Team #51732 “Dragon Racers” from Huntington.

Ten out of the 20 teams from Qualifier #3 moved on as well. They include Team #8085 “Rocky Point Radical Robotix” from Rocky Point; Team #22112 “Portledge Royal Panthers” from Locust Valley; Team #37507 “WALL-E Workers” from New Hyde Park; Team #38503 “Techno Queens” from Jericho; Team #38653 “Imagination in a Nutshell II” from Jericho; Team #41153 “Epic Robot” from Roslyn; Team #42994 “GALABOTS” from Syosset; Team #43820 “Robotic Lightning Kangaroos” from Huntington; Team #50815 “Brickaneers Duplo” from Islip; and Team #50946 “Overpowered Spicy Robot” from Syosset.

FIRST LEGO League Challenge is an international program for 9- to 16-year-old children (ages vary by country) created in a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group in 1998 to get children excited about science and technology – and teach them valuable career and life skills. Children work alongside adult Mentors to design, build, and program autonomous robots using LEGO^® Education SPIKE^TM Prime or LEGO^® MINDSTORMS^® and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their Innovation Project.

This year’s Challenge – RePLAY^SM – called for teams to identify a problem related to people not being active enough, research the problem and design a new piece of technology or improve an existing one to help them solve that problem.

The competition is judged in three areas: Innovation Project; Robot Design, and Core Values, which embody aspects of teamwork and good sportsmanship. Top robot game scores are also honored. The award winners were as follows:

Team Award		Team #	Team Name	Town
Innovation Project Winner	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	2180 22112	LJHS LE’GO Lions (Holborow) Portledge Royal	Middle Island Locust Valley
Innovation Project Finalist	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	47544 8085	MiniPobots Rocky Point Radical Robotix	Plainview Rocky Point
Robot Design Winner	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	6435 43820	Fire Dragons Robotic Lightning Kangaroos	Rocky Point Huntington
Robot Design Finalist	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	37506 37507	MicroChip Cookies WALL-E Workers	Plainview New Hyde Park
Robot Performance 1st Place	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	16174 50946	Meteorites Overpowered Spicy Robot	Hicksville Syosset
Robot Performance 2nd Place	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	45172 38503	Meteorites Cubed Techno Queens	Hicksville Jericho
Core Values Winner	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	45172 38653	Meteorites Cubed Imagination in a Nutshell II	Hicksville Jericho
Core Values Finalist	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	49922 50815	The Barracudas Brickaneers Duplo	Ridge Islip
Engineering Excellence	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	2438 50946	Camol Clan Overpowered Spicy Robot	Floral Park Syosset
Champion’s	Qualifier #1: Qualifier #3:	16174 38503	Meteorites Techno Queens	Hicksville Jericho

 

The Coach/Mentor Award for Qualifier #1 went to Bryan Eichenauer of Team #45172 “Meteorites Cubes” from Hicksville. Maria Zografos of Team #22112 “The Royal Panthers” from Locust Valley won the award for Qualifier #3.

For more information on SBPLI, visit https://www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

###

About FIRST^® 
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $50 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades PreK-8. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.firstinspires.org

 

About FIRST^® LEGO League

FIRST LEGO League introduces science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16 (ages vary by country) through fun, exciting hands-on learning. FIRST LEGO League participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. In FIRST LEGO League, students engage in hands-on STEM experiences, building confidence, growing their knowledge and developing habits of learning. FIRST LEGO League’s three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.

 

FIRST LEGO League Discover – PreK- Grade 1:

For children ages 4-6, this playful introductory STEM program ignites their natural curiosity and builds their habits of learning with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO^® Duplo bricks.

 

FIRST LEGO League Explore – Grades 2-4:

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0.

 

FIRST LEGO League Challenge – Grades 4-8:

Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-16* engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.

 

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST^® Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST^® Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST^® Robotics Competition has grown to two events with over 80 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST^® LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST^® LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added the FIRST^® Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.